Conventional or prior art pallet structures are commonly seen and used within commercial warehouses and distribution centers, home appliance retail stores, and many other large commercial or industrial facilities, in order to support and transport large-sized packages, bales, articles, products, palletized loads, or the like. Such conventional or prior art pallet structures, however, comprise rigid structures which are commonly fabricated from wood or plastic materials, and therefore, such conventional or prior art pallet structures comprise a considerable amount of weight. Accordingly, in view of the fact that the pallet structures are fabricated from materials which are quite dense and heavy, and since shipping costs are based upon the weight of the items being shipped, the costs involved in shipping or transporting the pallet structures from their manufacturing plants to distribution centers or end use facilities can be quite considerable. In addition, since such conventional or prior art pallet structures comprise rigid, substantially planar structures, they cannot be, and are not designed to be, readily knocked-down or disassembled so as to be rendered compact for transportation and storage purposes. These factors render the conventional or prior art pallet structures costly to fabricate, costly to transport due to their relatively large amount of weight, and costly to transport and store due to the fact that such planar pallet structures do not comprise knockdown structures which would otherwise facilitate the compact storage of the same.
A need therefore exists in the art for a new and improved pallet structure which is preferably light in weight and which is capable of being easily erected or assembled, and conversely, which is capable of being easily knocked-down or otherwise disassembled, whereby the pallet structure would be relatively economical to fabricate, economical to ship or transport, easy and economical to store, and quick and easy to erect or assemble for use as well as quick and easy to knock-down or disassemble for shipping, transportation, and storage.